This application is related to and claims priority from Japanese Patent Applications No. Hei. 11-295139 filed on Oct. 18, 1999, No. Hei. 11-364895 filed on Dec. 22, 1999, and No. 2000-251406 filed on Aug. 22, 2000, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a vehicle air conditioner having side face air outlets provided at both right and left side ends of an instrument panel within a passenger compartment, and more particularly relates to an arrangement structure of air openings in an air conditioning case of the vehicle air conditioner.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional vehicle air conditioner described in JP-A-10-166838, as shown in FIG. 19, an air conditioning case 111 of an air conditioning unit 110 has a defroster opening 120 provided at a vehicle front side of a rotation shaft 120a of a defroster door, a center face opening 122 provided at a vehicle rear side of the rotation shaft 120a, and side face openings 130 provided on both right and left sides of the center face opening 122. The side face openings 130 are positioned outside a width dimension of the center face opening 122 in a vehicle right-left direction. Accordingly, a dimension of the air conditioning case 110 in the vehicle right-left direction is increased. On the other hand, when the center face opening 122 is enlarged for increasing an opening area of the center face opening 122 in an arrangement direction of the defroster opening 120 and the center face opening 122, it is necessary to increase a dimension of a foot/face switching door for opening and closing the center face opening 122, and operation force of the foot/face switching door becomes larger.
In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle air conditioner which can reduce a dimension of an air conditioning unit in a direction perpendicular to an arrangement direction of a center face opening and a defroster opening, while without increasing operation force of a door for opening and closing the center face opening.
According to the present invention, in a vehicle air conditioner, an air conditioning case for defining an air passage through which air is blown toward a passenger compartment has a center face opening through which air is blown toward a center upper side of the passenger compartment in a vehicle right-left direction, a side face opening through which air is blown toward a side upper side of the passenger compartment in the vehicle right-left direction or a side windshield of the vehicle, and an air opening provided separately from the center face opening and the side face opening. A mode switching unit for selectively opening and closing the center face opening and the air opening is disposed at a downstream air side of a temperature adjustment unit for controlling temperature of air blown into the passenger compartment. In the vehicle air conditioner, at least a part of the side face opening is positioned within a width dimension of the center face opening in a direction perpendicular to an arrangement direction of the center face opening and the air opening. Accordingly, a dimension of the air conditioning case in the direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction becomes smaller without increasing a dimension of the air conditioning case in the arrangement direction. Therefore, operation force of the mode switching unit for opening and closing the center face opening can be reduced.
Preferably, the side face opening is provided between the center face opening and the air opening in the arrangement direction of the center face opening and the air opening. Therefore, the dimension of the air conditioning case in the arrangement direction can be reduced, and the dimension of the mode switching door in the arrangement direction can be also reduced. As a result, the operation force of the mode switching door can be further reduced.
Further, the mode switching unit is a door having a rotation shaft rotatably held in the air conditioning case and a plate member disposed in the rotation shaft to be operated by the rotation shaft, the side face opening is provided at least at one side of the center face opening and the air opening relative to the rotation shaft, and the plate member has an air passage part communicating with the side face opening. Therefore, during any one air outlet mode, conditioned air can be blown toward the side face opening.
Preferably, the side face opening includes a first side face opening part and a second side face opening part provided separately from the first side face opening part in the direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction. Further, center face opening and the air opening includes a first opening part having an air flow resistance smaller than a predetermined value, the air opening includes a second opening part having an air flow resistance larger than the predetermined value. During a first air outlet mode where the first opening part is closed and the second opening part is opened, the first side face opening part is opened and the second side face opening part is closed. On the other hand, during a second air outlet mode where the first opening part is opened and the second opening part is closed, both the first side face opening part and the second side face opening part are opened. During the second air outlet mode, because the first opening part having a small air flow resistance is opened and a second opening part having a large air flow resistance is closed, air readily flows into the first opening part. However, in the present invention, during the second air outlet mode, both the first and second side face opening parts are opened. Thus, it can prevent an air amount blown from the side face opening from being greatly different from each other between the first air outlet mode and the second air outlet mode.